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I got back into a ready stance as I saw Walt assume a looser stance, we stared at each other for a while before Walt started circling to my left.
Keeping my guard up, I kept my feet close to the ground as I circled in the other direction while making sure I did not cross my own feet.
We circled around each other until we were almost in each other’s place, when Walt suddenly dashed forward. When he was almost in striking range with his sword raised in an overhead strike, Walt suddenly ducked and feigned to my right while jabbing his sword toward my stomach. Too bad for him that this is not the first time I have been on the receiving end of a move like that.
With minimal movement, I parried the tip of his sword with the part of my sword that was closer to the guard, then I tilted the tip of my blade towards Walt who was now in an awkward position and lunged towards him.
Having not the time to block or recover, Walt was forced to roll away and recover a few paces away from me.
“I see petty tricks would not work on you.” Walt commented.
“Not the first time I have seen that move, I spar quite a lot with my father after all.” I replied.
“Well then, I apologize for taking you too lightly.” Walt said as he took a proper stance again, brought his sword over his head in a high guard, and started inching toward me.
When we got back into striking range again, Walt unleashed a few probing strikes which I had no way to retaliate to due to my reach disadvantage, the only thing I could do was wait for Walt to commit to a serious strike and take advantage of the lag after the strike.
Said advantage soon came. After the 5th probing strike, Walt used his 6th probing strike and his superior strength to knock my sword aside, and then lunge at me.
But it did not seem like Walt was very good at hiding his intentions, because throughout his probing strikes, I noticed him glancing at my left shoulder a fair bit, and as expected, the blow was aimed at my left shoulder.
This made it easier for me to tilt my body to the side as his sword went past me, I then leaned forward into striking distance, brought my sword into a horizontal strike aimed at Walt’s abdomen, and slashed.
But my slash hit only air and Walt was a few paces away taking a few steps backward to kill his momentum. If my eyes were not lying to me, at the last moment before my strike connected, Walt somehow negated the forward momentum of his strike and launched himself backward out of my attack, all on the 1 leg he had forward at the time.
“How did you dodge that so suddenly, all on 1 leg?” I asked incredulously.
Walt chuckled as he planted his sword into the ground beside him and grabbed the access material around the thigh area of his rather baggy trousers, the trousers that now were skin tight around his thigh revealed a thick thigh whose muscle definition could not be hidden behind such mundane fabrics. “Hehehe. If you never skip leg day, one day even you can pull off such miraculous feats of strength, even without aura!” then he released his grip on his trousers and struck a pose that strained the buckles of his leather armor.
Oh God… he is as muscle-headed as Dad and his knights, but that does not mean he is wrong, all the bodybuilders I met at the gym in my previous said the same thing, and there is not a chicken-legged man among them.
“Speaking about aura, I heard you were capable of it, how about we kick it up a notch.” Walt said as he retrieved his sword and activated his aura, and judging by how small the wafts of leaking aura were, it was clear that he was capable of stamina manipulation, it may not be as smooth as Dad’s but leagues better than mine.
In response to this, I flared my aura and did not use any stamina manipulation in order to hide my skill.
Seeing that I was on a clock before I tired out from aura use, I made the first move and dashed forward, but just before I was upon him, the both of us feinted in different directions at the same time.
Noticing that we both did the same thing, we came to a stop and looked at each other. As I looked at Walt, I don't know why, but the ferial grin he had on his face was giving me the creeps.
This time it was Walt who charged, and knowing I could not waste my time and energy dodging forever, I also charged straight at Walt.
As we were charging towards each other, I had no intention of directly clashing with someone who was way above my weight class, so at the last moment, I adjusted my course to Walt’s side and slashed.
Walt easily blocked my blow as he very obviously let himself get carried off by the force of the blow. When he landed on the ground, he landed feet first and crouched down like a frog while tracking me with his eyes.
Then he pounced at me with so much force that the ground beneath Walt’s previous location was now a small crater.
This hit was not 1 I wanted to take, even on a good day. So I jumped out of the way and let Walt make another crater upon stopping.
Soon this turned into a cat-and-mouse chase as Walt chased me around while the both of us were leaving divots in the ground from where we pushed off.
Every now and then we would clash, and naturally, I was at a disadvantage as Walt threw his weight around and knocked me around the area.
Seeing that the flow of the fight was not going to change in my favor if things continued, I decided it was time to pull off some tricksies fighting moves I had been practicing ever since Dad handed my ass to me in an aura sparring match.
As we charge each other to clash again, I decided to pull off a move that may not be seen as very knightly.
Just as we were about to clash, I turned my feet sideways and dug them into the ground, this resulted in dirt and dust being kicked up towards Walt, after kicking up the dirt as cover, I rolled to the side as I heard the woosh of Walt’s sword fly past where my body was previously.
As I stayed still and quiet in the dust cloud, I heard the shuffle of footsteps and dashed toward the source of the sound, and when I saw the silhouette through the dust cloud, I struck… only to be met with the feeling of hitting wood.
The impact of my aura powered blow created a small shock wave that blew away the surrounding dust, revealing Walt blocking my blow from an awkward angle. Then he turned toward me with an even more manic grin.
“What Fun! I did not expect dirty tricks from a noble kid… I approve!” Walt said, shouting the last part to Albert who was still jotting on his clipboard. “But I think it is time to bring this test to an end.”
The next thing I knew, I had the air forced out of my lungs as I was flying backwards. After rolling a few times on the ground, my sight rested on Walt with his leg sticking out behind him. I think he just donkey-kicked me.
As I tried to catch the breath that was forced out of my lungs from that kick, I heaved and coughed a little as I drew in my breath, and when I opened my teared-up eyes from my coughing, there was a pair of boots before me.
When I looked up, Walt’s wooden blade was pointed at my neck, “Do you yield?”
I always found it to be kind of a stupid question to ask someone with a blade to their neck, but I suppose it is just a formality.
“I yield.” I said as I dropped my sword.
It was then that Albert came over to me while clapping, “Well fought young Ironcrest… well fought. We have come to the end of your tests, please do rest up and we will inform you of your results tomorrow.”
I nodded and thanked the 2 Royal Academy staff before being led off by the maid on standby to get freshened up.
If Albert and Walt’s expressions are anything to go by, my tests should have gone well.
